Rueda en linea

RUEDA EN LINEA means Rueda on a LINE ..!?
It sounds like a contradiction to fit a rueda (wheel) on a linea (line).
Maybe it is. But it also has some interesting areas of use.

Orientation

The orientation of the couples related to each other are different than in a rueda. In en linea the couples line up behind each other, while in rueda the couples line up beside each other (see figure).

Partner change at the end of the line

Let’s look at the obvious question: What happens when you reach the end of the line, and there is a partner change?
The plain answer is that the partner change from the end of the line is to have the leader move all the way to the other end. This may be a bit of a challenge if the line is long. But the line is rarely very long, unless this is the specific goal.

A few ways to avoid the travel-to-the-other-end issue:

Use more commands without partner change, or putting “y quedate” at the end, like “enchufla y quédate con mambo”.

Use an extra lead at the end of the line, and change the orientation of the line between every second partner change. That way the to leaders at each end will alternately wait outside the line.

Partner change

When positioned on a line, the terms abajo (downward) and arriba (upward) are quite ambigous.
So how to change partner?

“enchufla” is performed similar to in Rueda, and for the partner change, the leader move forward to the follower in front (to the open side from “guapea”), and do a “dile que no”. The line is still pointing the same direction. The leader in front travels behind the followers all the way to the other end, going straight into “guapea”.

In “dame una” the leaders move one position forward, without “dile que no”. It looks almost like dame directo – to the follower to the left.

Variations

In adition to dancing regular rueda figures, here are a few variations that may be added to Rueda en linea:

Transit to and from regular Rueda de casino, forming a snake on the move

Flip the line, like when transiting between pa’dentro and pa’fuera, for instance using “enchufla flip”

Why dance Rueda en linea?

Exploration
As in all Rueda structures, just for the fun and variation of it. It gives you a chance to try to fit your understanding of rueda to a different setting.

Space
At some clubs it is so crowded that you cannot fit a rueda on the floor. Rueda en line takes less space, because it doesn’t have an empty space in the middle of a circle. It space is very limited, you might want to check out how to avoid the travel-to-the-other-end issue (see above) one more time.

Technique
The technique from Rueda en linea may be used in some of the more recent Rueda structures, like Rueda torno and Rueda caleidescopio. In these structures you do form a line, but it’s not a straight line, it’s a line formed as a circle (the spokes position in torno).